Read Serial: Volume Two Online
Authors: Jaden Wilkes,Lily White
Serial: Volume Two (11 page)
Maybe with a little frozen beverage left in her mouth.
I was going to assault my senses with Pet, assault my brain and my red heat with images of her, the scent of her, the taste of her and the touch of her…but I found this girl instead.
I pulled up beside her and she was utterly perfect. She looked a little trashed, but under her make-up and thick jacket she was beautiful.
I offered her a ride and felt a little thrill at the wide grin she had on her face when she got in my car.
We made small talk, came up with a price that was so outrageous that her eyes widened in smug delight that she had hit the big time, and drove back to the warehouse.
I made the usual pretense about needing to pick up a couple things, hey, let’s get down and dirty right there.
She seemed reluctant to go inside, so I told her, “I don’t trust the homeless people around here, not enough to leave you alone. My mother would kill me if I left a girl on her own. Especially such a beautiful one.”
“That’s really kind of you,” she said and looked at her phone again. It seemed she was obsessed with the device.
“Are you expecting a call?” I asked. Shit, I hope she wasn’t expected somewhere. Home, or meeting her pimp. I did hate the girls who had people who cared. People who noticed when they disappeared.
“Naw,” she said, “just a text about homework.”
“Homework?” I asked. Double shit, I hated taking them too young. It felt pervy somehow, and I wasn’t a common perv, I was more of an artist really.
“Don’t worry, I’m eighteen. I’m back at school to get my GED so I can go to college some day,” she told me. Neither one of us was convinced. She was on the verge of dropping out, if she attended any classes at all.
“Good for you,” I said and opened the door to the warehouse.
We walked through the large, open space to my converted office. I paused when I opened the door to the killing room, giving her time to run perhaps? I wasn’t sure if I was interested in killing her for the sexual release I usually got, or if I was simply going through the motions these days.
The image of Pet lying beneath me, her legs wrapped around me, her voice soft and whispering, gasping in pleasure as I entered her sprung to my mind. The words she spoke, simple and powerful, choking my own declarations of love in my throat. Slaying them before they were born off my tongue and landed in her ears.
She had told me she wanted to be in my life, to be part of it.
As much as I loved her, wanted her, and wanted to care for her, the reality of it was that I didn’t know if I could keep her alive.
This girl here, she didn’t know it, but she was one of my experiments to allow Pet a safer passage in my presence.
If I could keep this girl here, slake my thirst at will, then I might be able to spend hours entwined with Pet, the sweat drying on our bodies and the words growing bolder and bolder as we almost dared each other to be the first to say love.
“Do you have a bathroom?” she asked and I noticed her hands trembling. She was coming down a little and probably needed to get a little higher to handle selling her ass tonight.
“I don’t think you’ll need it,” I said and motioned to the table in the centre of the room, “you can do what you need to do right here. I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure?” she asked and blushed. Her habit embarrassed her; I would definitely be putting her out of her misery once I finally slit her throat.
“I’m quite certain,” I told her, “no judgment here.”
She didn’t hesitate, she pulled a little bag of white powder from her bra, opened it, scooped a little of what I assumed was coke, and snorted into each nostril.
The effect was instantaneous; she lit up and started to twitch, like a brilliant little bird.
“You look happy,” I said, “tell me how it feels.” I didn’t know what it was to be happy. The joy on people’s faces always fascinated me. Even on drugs, I never could let go; coke in particular just gave me a razor sharp edge and a heightened need for blood.
Happy. It was beyond my reach.
“It feels…” She smiled and reached for the words to explain how she felt. I walked towards her and edged her closer to the table. I looked at the counter; I had several weapons within arm’s length. What would I use on this one?
“Go on,” I said and ran my hand along her arm. She had goose bumps. It wasn’t that cold in here, she knew what was going to happen and she was excited by it.
“It’s like I’m flying but I haven’t left my body. Everything feels lighter, and my problems disappear.”
“So you’re completely content right now?”
“Yes,” she replied and smiled dreamily. “I feel good.”
“That makes me happy,” I lied and lunged for the baseball bat, swung it and hit the side of her head before she could open her mouth to ask what the hell I was doing.
She dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap. She looked tiny like that, barely human sized, more like a little pile of flesh and rags that somebody had discarded.
I picked her up and laid her out on the table, strapped her down and felt the growing lump on the side of her head.
I hoped I hadn’t killed her with that blow; I had so much to do.
She moaned and moved her head on the table, whispered, “Sarah?” and appeared to slip back into her dreams.
I cut the clothes from her body and stood back to admire my work. She wasn’t the most beautiful girl I’d killed, and most certainly not the most beautiful I’d ever seen naked now that I had Pet.
I ran my hands along her body, felt her lax muscles and the ridges of her ribs under my touch. She wasn’t the most athletic, or charming, or obviously educated, but this one was special.
She was the first girl I took after being with Pet.
She was the one I would use to keep Pet safe, to keep myself sane and in control.
I draped a blanket over her and turned out the lights. I would have felt better leaving her in the basement, but couldn’t take the risk again. If she accidentally perished, I don’t know what I’d do.
I heard her moan and flipped the switch again. The light flared, the fluorescent bulbs buzzed and the pock marked, dingy walls were highlighted with unsettling clarity. I stepped back, peered at the girl and furrowed my brow.
There it was again, that déjà vu, the sense that I’d seen her before…it rose up in my head and flitted away.
She moved her head back and forth and her eyes fluttered, then shut. The small crust of blood at the side of her head was drying and she looked stronger, her breath steadier.
I stepped away, turned back and it hit me.
She reminded me of Pet.
And I knew where I’d seen her before.
I knew where Pet had crossed my path years ago. Something she’d said echoed in my head and I remembered knowing her.
And the revelation was fucking stunning.
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